ABSTRACT
Ecological recovery, especially at landscape or ecosystem scales, alters the temporal and spatial dimensions of natural systems and human relationships with them. Environmental scientists have documented countless ways by which ecological and biological systems are in nearly constant flux, whose permutations become meaningful in specific places, for time itself just measures change rather than constituting change itself. Time is a primary denominator of numerous ecological properties such as population trends, predator–prey dynamics, ecological succession and the hydrologic cycle, as well as their responses to anthropogenic influences. Nature’s recovery begins with policies and laws that are aligned to the temporal and spatial characteristics of ecological and biological systems. This chapter discusses space and time, respectively, as dimensions of eco-restoration governance. It concludes with advice for a better governance agenda for eco-restoration that is more sensitive to these timescapes.
